Developer friendly Windows configuration tool BellaVista
Whenever you start a Windows PC for the first time as a developer, you may need to make certain configuration changes to adjust certain settings of the system for development purposes.
Maybe you need to enable debugging options, configure crash dumps, or certain environment variables. While you can do all of this using standard Windows controls, tools like BellaVista may speed up things a lot.
BellaVista, despite the name, is compatible with all recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Compatibility starts with Windows XP even though much of the functionality that is available is only available on Windows Vista or newer systems.
First thing you will notice after download is that the program does not need to be installed. You can run the 32-bit or 64-bit version right after you have extracted the archive on your system.
The program loads the BCD Configuration tab by default and makes available additional configuration options in other tabs.
Here is a quick overview of what each tab has to offer in terms of configuration options.
BCD Configuration
Enable debugging options for each Windows configuration. Available are different debugging options including network, local or serial port. Here you can also copy configurations, set configurations as default, and enable other boot related options such as configuring boot status and menu policies, enable test-signing, or disable the startup recovery sequence.
Crash Dump
Here you can change the crash dump type, set a dump file name and directory, and define related options such as configuring the system to automatically restart, to always keep a memory dump, or to send an administrative alert.
One interesting option on this page is to click on a preset to configure preferences with a single click.
Policies
The page displays three configuration options that you can enable or disable:
- Disable LUA on this PC
- Disable file and Registry virtualization
- Disable Shutdown Event Tracker
Environment
The tab displays all existing environment information in an easy fashion. Each variable and value is displayed in its own row which is way better than the default Windows way of displaying these information.
The page allows you to add, edit and delete variables.
Debug Print Filter
Last but not least, it is possible to set debug print filters on the last tab.
Conclusion
BellaVista can be a useful program as it aids developers in making modifications to the Windows configuration in an easy to use interface. If these changes need to be made, it is without doubt faster to use this program than to make them manually.
The program lacks an option to save the complete configuration though which could be quite useful to apply all the changes on another system by loading it.
Since this is not an option, it is still necessary to make these changes manually instead.
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277